Does theory guide experimental science or does metaphor? By using the very small--nanometric bits of matter and void--and an architectural metaphor as guide, materials chemist and nanoarchitect Debra Rolison describes how to adapt ethereal aerogels into materials that exhibit more: more opportunities to design functional materials with higher performance. Aerogels are the lightest solids known: composities of being and nothingness in which a thread-like network of solid (oxide, carbon, ceramic) winds through a sea of void. Just as the open space in buildings is critical to their usefulness--and aesthetics--so, too, the interconnected nothing in nanoarchitectures is critical to painting the walls, laying electrical wiring, and bestrewing about functional objets d'art. More of less truly is more!

April Tsui, an artist and designer from Los Angeles, will bring us a marvelous show and tell of her exploration of aerogels and a number of other materials, including bubblegum. She will talk about how aerogel taught her to look at materials from a childlike perspective. Her creative process is a journey about finding that moment of wonder to get lost in and play. In replicating one moment, she made the jump from bubblegum to creating dynamic textures.

And Roald Hoffmann may read some poems on materials.
Cover $10

Sunday, Mar 01
8:30PMTAGORE SONGS AND THE CELTIC HARPPartha Mitra, vocal; Abigail Horn, celtic harp; Tapan Modak, tabla
The songs of Rabindranath Tagore (Nobel prize for literature: 1913) are unique for their combination of literary and philosophical depth with musical beauty. They also represent "fusion music" from the turn of the twentieth century, combining Indian classical and folk melodies, with Irish and British tunes. The harp, while not part of the usual instrumental repertoire accompanying Tagore songs, offers interesting opportunities to highlight the melodies drawn from the British Isles. It also allows for the exploration of harmonic chords in the context of raga-based melodies, a contrast that is often regarded as a dividing line between Indian and European classical traditions.

The program will consist of Tagore songs and solo Harp compositions with the Tabla, and will include brief expository remarks about Tagore songs, as well as tuning systems and scales.

Abigail Horn has been playing the Celtic harp for 10 years, and has always been fascinated by the ethereal quality of Celtic music. She has also always been fascinated with Indian Classical music (her father studied the tabla under Ali Akbar Kahn). She is enjoying the experience of translating Tagore and Indian Classical music tuning systems to the harp.
www.abigailhorn.com

Partha Mitra grew up in Kolkata, India and learned Tagore songs through osmosis from the cultural fabric as well as through formal lessons. He combines his personal interest in music with a professional interest in neuroscience
(http://mitralab.org), which has included research on birdsong. Partha has performed previously downstairs at the Cornelia Street Cafe (5/05).

Tapan Modak learned to play the Tabla with Ustad Phul Mia in Bangladesh, then from Birendra Hazarika and Pandit Kishore Maharaj in India. He has performed the tabla in a number of venues, including Carnegie Hall and at the Lincoln Center, both with reputed Indian artists such as Manna Dey and Anup Jalota, and with Jazz musician Reggie Workman. Sajib, Tapan's son, learned to play the Tabla with his father and will join in the performance.
Cover $10
(includes one house drink)

This series explores in his highly personable, generous and informal style the astonishing variety of David Amram's interests
and accomplishments--renowned composer of symphonic classical music, jazz compositions, improvisation, spoken word,
scat, he sits at the piano, schmoozes about music, about the greats, the beats, the obscure, the legendary; plays the French
horn, pulls out all kinds of instruments (flutes, drums, horns) gathered from his many circumnavigations of the globe, pulls in
guests drawn from just about every artistic walk of life.
Cover $10
www.davidamram.com

Tuesday, Mar 03
6:00PMWRITERS READGene Albertelli and Teresa Giordano, hostWilla Carroll ; Abby Wender; Cynthia Weiner; Deborah Flanagan
Willa Carroll is a writer and performer living in NYC. She is originally from Rochester, NY. She has a BA in Poetry and Dance from Bennington College. Willa's work has been published in Tin House Magazine. Her writing is informed by years of performance in dance, theater, video, and film.

Abby Wender's poetry has been published in The Massachusetts Review, The Madison Review, Epiphany, Fine Madness, and other literary reviews. In July 2008 she was granted an MFA in Poetry from the Warren Wilson MFA for Writers Program, and has taught for many years at the Writers Studio in New York City. She is a contributing editor and trustee of The Kenyon Review.

Cynthia Weiner's work has been published in Open City, Epiphany, Ploughshares, and Pushcart Prize XXX. She lives in New York City, and is the Assistant Director of The Writers Studio.

Deborah Flanagan’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in journals including The Gettysburg Review, Poet Lore, Diagram, PANK, and J Journal. At City Parks Foundation she is creating the reading series CityParks Poetry, and at the Academy of American Poets she helped create the Online Poetry Classroom. Deborah lives in the East Village in New York City
Cover $7
(includes one house drink)

SpeakEasy is people telling stories-- true stories. Period. No scripts. No crib notes. No rehearsals.
SpeakEasy has a dynamic and constantly changing cast of storytellers that include such greats as Mike Daisey, Jonathan
Ames, and Reno, along with homemakers, lawyers, dog walkers, street magicians and writers

You never know what you'll hear. So join us for what could be a life changing experience!

Mira Ptacin is a MFA candidate at Sarah Lawrence College in nonfiction writing and is editor-in-chief of their literary magazine LUMINA. She's a member of the NYC Writer's Room Colony, the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, and is an alum of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland, Maine. Her writing has appeared in The Morning News, Anderbo.com, New York Magazine (online), Common Dreams, and she has a story in the upcoming issue of Epiphany Literary Magazine. She lives in Manhattan with her husband and dog little dog Maybe and is currently working on her first book.

Anna Steegmann, born in Germany, has lived in New York City since 1980. She worked as an actress and psychotherapist until making writing her priority. She has translated three books from German to English for W.W. Norton. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, [sic], 138journal.com, The Wising Up Press, universaltable.org, Promethean, Epiphany, The Absinthe Literary Review, Boomer Women Speak, Dimension2, and several German newspapers. Her essay Mein Harlem has been selected as Notable Essays of 2007 in The Best American Essays (2008). She teaches writing at City College of New York and the International Summer Academy in Venice/Italy.

Karol Nielsen is the nonfiction editor of Epiphany and a memoir-writing instructor at New York University. A chapter of her memoir was named as a Notable Essay in The Best American Essays 2005, and her poetry collection was a finalist for the Colorado Prize for Poetry in 2007. She has contributed to Epiphany, North Dakota Quarterly, Permafrost, RiverSedge, and the Old Red Kimono, as well as the New York Times as a stringer, New York Newsday, Jane's Intelligence Review, the Buenos Aires Herald, the Advocate of Stamford, Connecticut, and others.
Cover $7
(includes one house drink)

The trio will perform a series of rock/jazz based compositions by each
member of the band in preparation to record for Fresh Sound Records later
on this month.

"Davis' compositions are carefully drawn but explosive."-Jazz Times
"Ted has a refreshingly unique, organic approach to playing the drums."
-Jazz Review"An emerging player to watch." -All About Jazz Cover $8
www.krisdavis.net
,
www.lisamezzacappa.com

This is a monthly opportunity for artists associated with the cafe--from every genre and every generation, past, present, and future--to gather informally, schmooze, re-invent the world, and hoist a glass of quelque chose (the only kind of chose to hoist). Our glorious curators are present, you can buttonhole them to find out what's cooking, you can introduce yourself to other toilers in the vineyard, invent projects and discover collaborators. All are welcome.

Friday, Mar 06
6:00PMSON OF PONYKathi Georges, hostPaul Violi

The Friday night legendary open mic poetry series.

Arrive before 6 pm to sign up.

Featured Poet: Paul Violi

"A Paul Violi poem is like no one else's. Combining professorial erudition with the relaxed unpredictability of Frank O'Hara, the shadowy wisdom of Rimbaud, and the urban angst of Jerry Seinfeld, Violi's poems make you laugh out loud, then think really hard about what it is you're laughing at. They begin as modest eddies, then spiral outward in ever widening circles to absorb and transform conventions of mass culture rarely incorporated into poetry: the TV program guide, the travel diary, the crossword puzzle. In Violi's hands, these mundane forms become retorts in which language and the cunning unconscious are released rather than imprisoned."
-- Fred Muratori (from Rain Taxi Review of Books--Online Edition)
Cover $7
(includes one house drink)

The Quartet has been the central performing force for Gerry Hemingway's compositions for the past decade. The appearance of this well-traveled quartet is rare in New York City and this performance at Cornelia presents the identical personnel of his second record for Clean Feed, The Whimbler, with the exception of Kermit Driscoll in the bass chair who has been increasingly more involved in Mr. Hemingway's quartet and quintet projects. His music is, on the one hand, rich in melody that is never simply a departure point for improvising but instead the beginning of a tapestry of musical invention. His music also engages our ears with a multiflavored sound world cultivated from each member's unique instrumental personality. And most often, the alchemy is spurned on by the depth of the groove, often multilayered, delighting both the heart and the mind.

"It's an extraordinary band, one that seems to pick up the free jazz tradition and infuse it with a needed brilliance and vitality.
"Stuart Broomer - Coda Magazine

From a Martin Longley Blog on the Quartet's last appearance at Cornelia (9/07) "ŠHemingway's own work has itself been crucial on the scene. Tonite, he's in powerhouse mode, but this cannot ever mean meathead knuckling, at least not without attendant grace and complexity. Yes, he's piledriving like it's his final appearance on Earth, but can we ever have witnessed such force coupled with this kind of sonic finesse?"
Cover $10
www.gerryhemingway.com

Frank Carlberg Quintet
celebrating the new CD release
"The American Dream" on Red Piano Records

Red Piano Records, a new, artist run, Brooklyn based recording label, could not have chosen a more
auspicious musical event for its debut release than pianist/composer Frank Carlberg’s The American
Dream.

Brilliantly conceived and stunningly executed by an ensemble (made up) of some of Mr. Carlberg’s
most reliable and longstanding associates, The American Dream is a jazz suite cum political cri de
couer built around 12 short poems by the late Robert Creeley. The poems have been situated by Mr.
Carlberg in musical contexts that extend and enhance the linguistic economy and emotional candor
that characterize much of Mr. Creeley’s greatest work.

Hoong Yee Lee Krakauer is a picture book author/artist by night, nonprofit executive director of the Queens Council on the Arts by day. Her first book for children, "Rabbit Mooncakes" was published by Little, Brown & Co. in 1994 and re-released by Moonrattles, Inc. in 2007. She was recently commissioned to create an original retelling of "Pecos Bill", the beloved American tall tale hero. "Howl!", her lively version and her black and white cutout illustrations bring an unexpected spin to this traditional tale that only a wannabe cowgirl from Queens could bring.

Mahina Movement is the phenomenal female trio who combine poetry and song to create passionate music tied to flesh and bone, straight from the heart. Mahina taken from the Tongan word, Moon and from the Spanish word, Imagíne, Mahina Movement (Gabriella Callender, Erica DeLaRosa and vaimoana litia makakaufaki niumeitolu) is a trinity who hail from Hollis, Queens, New York; San Antonio, Texas and Provo/Orem, Utah of North America. Mahina Movement's extraordinary melodies and poems tell stories of the personal and political wrapped with courage, strength and connection. 3 voices and 1 guitar blend into a powerful force, mixing folk, rock and rhymes in English, Spanish and Tongan simmered with indigenous roots and culture.
Cover $7
(includes one house drink)
www.wheremykeys.blogspot.com
,
www.mahinamovement.org

What a rich, unpretentiously modern record is “Flag Day” (Sunnyside) by the jazz saxophonist Adam Kolker. He plays these songs — five originals; one Monk piece, the standard “Last Night When We Were Young”; and “Don’t Let It Bring You Down” by Neil Young — with restraint, letting his ideas flow but never filling up all available space. He’s a real improviser, making impulsive choices about phrasing and how to imply a chord, giving each of his notes a strong, strange character. The group is a little hive of wisdom, including the guitarist John Abercrombie, the bassist John Hebert and the drummer Paul Motian, whose aura of relaxed play, or what some people still call cool, is almost a physical presence here.
Ben Ratliff - New York Times Cover $10
www.adamkolker.com
,
www.Myspace.com/adamkolker